Governor control for internalcombustion engines



NOV. 1950 G. s. WEINBERGER 2,529,437

GOVERNOR CONTROL FOR INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINES Filed March 21, 1944 2 42 Elna man 5 L l r I ,2 INVENTOR. GEORGE S. WEINEERGER E -2- I Amm Patented Nov. 7, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GOVERNOR CONTROL FOR INTERNAL- COMBUSTION ENGINES 4 Claims.

This invention relates to governors for controllin the speed of internal combustion engines, particularly to such engines provided with conventional centrifugal governor control, and the invention has for its principal object the provision of means responsive to gas pressures associated with the operation of the engine whereby the operation of the conventional governor is modiiled.

Special features and advantages of the invention will appear in the following description and in the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic layout showing one way of connectin the operating units to carry out my invention.

Fig. 2 is a similar diagrammatic layout showing another way of connecting the units to carry out the invention.

Fig. 3 shows a reduced scale modification over Figure 1 in connecting the pressure tube to the engine cylinder gases.

Before describing the drawings in detail, a brief description of the invention and its purpose will be given, so as to make for an easier understanding of the drawings.

In the conventional application of a centrifugal governor to an internal combustion engine as used for industrial purposes, the governor shaft is operated directly from a moving part of the engine to urge the weights (or fiy balls) outwardly against the resistance of a spring and/or gravity, in a manner to urge the weights outward with increased speed of the engine and through suitable linkage to the carburetor or fuel supply the fuel supplied to the engine is reduced. or conversely increased upon slowing down of the engine, so as to maintain substantially the desired speed for which the governor has been set.

The governor, of course, only functions upon an increase or decrease of the engine speed as its only purpose is to endeavor to maintain a substantially constant speed at all times, Whether or not the engine is idling or under full load.

In some engine governor arrangements means is provided for manually changing the effectivegovernor setting while the engine is runnin to very desirable in various uses of internal combustion engines for service where the loads are fluctuating or periodically applied, as in pile driver work, lumber sawing, hoist engines, and countless other uses, where it is desirable that the engine drop to about mere idling speed when oil load, and when a load is applied the engine should speed up (to a predetermined maximum) soas to most expeditiously get the work done, and immediately after which it should drop back to idling speed to reduce to the minimum the wear and tear on the moving parts, undue noise, and consumption of fuel-and the second effect is useful in special work.

My invention operates in conjunction with any ordinary mechanical governor, and broadly stated it comprises providing apparatus responsive to varying pressures existing anywhere within the engine system, but particularly such varying pressures as obtains within the intake pipe or manifold or exhaust manifold, and which pressure responsive means is connected or linked to the engine fuel control, and/or to the mechanical governor in a manner as to automatically modify its action as such gas pressure changes, to produce the desired results as above set out. Even the average pressures existing within the cylinders may be used, as the absolute pressure of the gases anywhere in the engine system bear a relation to the power and speed of the engine.

In the form of my invention shown in Fig. 1 the engine gas pressure responsive device is linked to directly force the centrifugal governor weights in or out from their normal position due to the particular speed of the engine at the time, so that the usual mechanism operated by the weights will open or close the throttle or fuel supply irrespective of the governor setting, whereas in the form shown in Fig. 2 the pressure responsive device merely lengthens or shortens the effective length of the throttle control rod normally operated by the mechanical governor. In the case of a Diesel engine not having a throttle, the control rod or its equivalent would be connected to operate its fuel supply similarly.

In the drawings, only those portions of the well-known parts immediately affected by the invention are shown, as any type of centrifugal governor, throttle, or fuel valve, or internal combustion engine including Diesel engines may be used, and form no part of the present invention.

In further detail I represents the intake pipe or manifold of an internal combustion engine,

and with its carburetor shown at 2 and its throttle or fuel controlling valve at 8 with its operating lever 4.

At 5 is generally indicated some of the elements of any type of centrifugal governor and in which 6 is the operating shaft driven from the engine as by means of a sprocket, gear, or pulley I and which shaft may be vertical or horizontal and carries the centrifugal weights 8 which engage a slidable sleeve 9 on the shaft normally urged by a spring ID in direction to retract the weights, and which sleeve is pivotally engaged at H by a yoked lever l2 in turn pivoted at its lower end as at l3 to a relatively fixed point and pivotally connected at a point M with a rod or link I5 pivoted at its opposite end as at IS with the throttle lever 4. all in the well-known manner so that depending on the tension of spring in as set by spring adjusting collar I! the engine speed will be maintained at a point where the centrifugal force of the weights balances the spring pressure and any increase or decrease of speed will cause the weights to move out or in as the case may be, to correspondingly swing the throttle valve 3 toward closing or toward opening to maintaining the set speed.

To the well-known construction described in the preceding paragraph I have added an en- 'gine manifold gas pressure control and which includes the provision of an expansible chamber l8 which may take any form such as a bellows, piston chamber, or flexible diaphragm closed chamber, here indicated as the latter and comprising a housing 26, 26' rigidly secured to a support I9 (which may be part of the engine not shown) and which chamber is connected with the engine intake gases as by a pipe or tube 20, leading by way of a two-way valve 43 to the engine manifold I.

One wall 2i of the vacuum chamber [8 is flexible, preferably a circular flexible diaphragm, and connected to its central portion is a rod 22, the outer end of which passes through an opening 23 in the upper end of lever i2 and is prothe drawing) vented to atmosphere through a pipe 44 and two-way valve 43 to air vent nozzle 21. The housing wall 26 carries a bearing or fixed sleeve 28 slidably supporting rod 22 and forming an abutment for a compression spring 29 coiled about the rod and reacting at its outer end against a collar 30 slidably adjustable along the rod so as to provide for adjusting the resistance to flexing of the diaphragm 2|, though if the diaphragm" is made of sprin metal of predetermined stiffness, it would be possible to dispense with spring 29.

Besides the above features it is desirable that means be provided for varying the effective length of throttle operating rod l5 as by the provision of a turnbuckle 3| or its equivalent so that the degree of opening of the throttle at a given position of lever l2 may be determined, or this adjustment may be made by adjusting the angle of the lever 4 on the throttle valve shaft 32.

In the construction shown in Fig. 2 only some of the part described for Fig. 1 are shown and these bear the same identifyin numerals, numeral I? being the upper portion of the centrifugal governor operating lever extending from the governor just as in Fig. 1. However, instead of the engine gas pressure influenced apparatus being connected to lever I2 as in Fig. 1, a pressure influenced expansion and contraction chamber 34 is interposed in throttle operating rod I5. This chamber is substantially like the one shown at l8 in Fig. 1, but its rear housing wall 35 is secured to one end of rod l5 while the other end of the rod is connected to the resilient or flexible diaphragm 36, and the front (vented) wall 31 of the housing carries the bearing or guide 38 for the rod and against which helical compression spring 39 surrounding the rod abuts at one end and bears at its outer end against any suitable adjusting nut 40 whereby the effective tension of the diaphragm may be varied. The turnbuckle 3! or its equivalent is also desirable for setting the throttle to desired stable idling speed of the engine.

In operation either design operates to modify the normal action of the centrifugal governor dependent on the gas pressure or degree of vacuum within the manifold. In Fig. 1 upon a relatively high vacuum existing in the manifold the diaphragm 2i will be flexed into the vacuum space ill to stop 42, and lever l2 pulled to the right to forcibly pull the throttle operating rod to almost the closed or idling position (as indicated in the figure), against the tendency of the governor weights 8 to hold the throttle further open. Thus the engine will run at the predetermined idling speed. But when a load is applied to the engine it momentarily slows down the engine a trifle and the governor moves rods 22 and Hi to the left to open the throttle somewhat and admit more fuel to the manifold thus further lowering the vacuum so that the throttle quickly opens still further under the load imposed on the engine so that the engine speeds up to the highest speed permitted by the setting of the centrifugal governor 5, and which. may be several times the R. P. M. of the idling speed. Thus, with the adjustment shown in the drawings, the engine runs at the highest eflicient speed under load and automatically drops to a much lower idling speed when the load period has passed and any tendency for the engine to race during sudden unloaded periods is avoided.

The action of the hook-up of Fig. 2 is substantially the same as with the showing of Fig. 1 above described except that instead of forcibly moving the governor throttle operating lever i2 against its normal position due to the particular speed of the engine, a change in the negative pressure existing in chamber 34 merely opens or closes the throttle a little more while leaving the governor lever in whatever position it may be, due to the speed of the engine at the time. In this showing at least part of pipe 20 is flexible as at 20".

With my improvement in internal combustion control as above set out the no-load speed may be kept down close to mere idling speed and the speed under load may be as high as the engine is capable of at the particular loading, whereas with the conventional governor the reverse conditions obtain as the full load speed is necessarily somewhat lower than the no-load speed as the centrifugal weights must move inward to open the throttle for the requisite fuel under load and they can only do this by a slowing down of the engine.

The purpose of the adjusting nuts 30 or 40 is to vary the eifective value of the vacuum or pressure in chamber l8 or 34, and the purpose of collars 24 and 25 permits of adjusting to permit the apparatus to influence the centrifugal governor in either direction only, or both directions, or by spacing either collar away from lever I2 it permits of a t'me lag either way before the gas controlled apparatus intervenes to modify the action of the centrifugal governor. For example: Move nut 24 to the left and movement of rod 22 will not immediately act on fuel supply through #l2, l5, 4 and 3. During this period of inaction by the modifying govcrnor the speed is determined by the conventional governor. When the nut #24 contacts the rod l2 from this point on the speed maintained by the conventional governor is again modified.

For some particular uses, it may be desirable to secure a complete reversal of the engine speed control, such for instance as to secure a fast speed under light load with a slower speed as the load increases, and such a result is possible to obtain with the apparatus shown by reversing any of its lever movements, angle of its throttle valve, or by connecting the pipe 20 by means of the two-way valve 43 to pipe 44 and chamber space 45 in front of the diaphragm 2| instead of to the rear as shown, and thereby open space "3 to atmosphere through air vent 21.

Also, for engines with very few cylinders it is advantageous to insert a resilient expansion chamber such as a rubber bag, bellows, or its equivalent 46, open to gas l'ne 20. The bellows of course to be normally partially expanded by an internal coil spring 41. This will smooth out any objectionable impulses.

It should be noted that while the word "vacuum is used in the foregoing explanation, this still entails an absolute pressure of from about 7 to 14 pounds per square inch, and when the gases from the exhaust manifold are used to opcrate the apparatus, or the gases from the explosion chamber of the engine, from one or more cylinders, the pressure will ordinarily be much higher, therefore the force of the springs and length of leverage of the parts will have to be adjusted accordingly.

When the cylinder gases are used, tube 20 will connect directly to the engine cylinder 48 as shown inFig. 3 at 20" instead of to the intake pipe I as shown in Fig. 1. In such case it is desirable that the tube be of very small internal diameter to put a heavy choking effect on the pulsations, and/or the valve 21 may be adjusted to provide but. a very small opening for the pressure gases.

Having thus described my improvement in internal combustion engine governor control. it will be apparent to anyone skilled in the art that the details of construction and linkage may be varied considerably from that shown in the drawings while maintaining the mode of operation set out. Also that while I stress the vacuum or negative pressure connection made to the intake side of the engine, there is a corresponding variation of positive pressure at the outlet side of the engine, as well as in the cylinders, which can similarly be employed by adjusting the valves and levers, of the instrumentalities and direction of movement of the parts used to carry out the dual control as above described, even to the point of complete reversal as above explained, and any such variations are intended to be covered in the appended claims, and my use of the term gas system of the engine herein is intended to cover any point in the engine or its intake or exhaust piping wherein the pressure of the gases has a relation to the speed or power developed by the engine.

I therefore claim:

1. In an internal combustion engine controlled by a governor operating on the engine fuel supply means, means responsive to the varying pressure of the gases after passing into the engine cylinders operatively associated with the governor mechanism in a manner to modify the effect of said governor on the fuel supply means.

2. In an internal combustion engine controlled by a centrifugal governor operating on the engine fuel supply means, means responsive to the varying pressure of the gases after passing into the engine cylinders operativel connected to the fuel supply means in a manner to take over its control from said governor upon a predetermined change in such pressure.

3. The combination of an internal combustion engine controlled by a centrifugal governor operating on the engine fuel supply means, a chamber connected by a gas passage with the gas space of the engine cylinders, a flexible wall on said chamber adapted to yield inwardly to the chamber as the pressure in the chamber is being lowered and vice versa, and means operated by the flexing of said wall arranged to operate on the fuel supply means, and means for adjusting the effective response of said flexible wall to varying gas pressure.

4. In an internal combustion engine speed governor influenced by varying pressure of the gases after passing into the engine cylinders, means between the governor and the engine for reducing the pulsating effect of the gases.

GEORGE S. WEINBERGER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Num er Name Date 2,138,100 Howard Nov. 29, 1938 2,328,452 Hobart Aug. 31, 1943 

